It's 2016, and despite the proliferation of services that get us to store our data on other people's servers, most of us have carrier plans that limit how many of those bytes we can transfer over a cellular network. I personally have access to Wi-Fi for most of the day, and I don't particularly want to spend the time that I don't staring at a phone, but even then, background data usage can pose a problem. Android already lets you set warnings and limits that prevent you from going over your monthly cap, but N introduces a feature that intends to increase how long it takes you to get to that point.

Data Saver is a new option under Settings that aims to make your smartphone use less data. Google figures you're most likely to flip this toggle at the end of the month, when you're roaming, or if you simply have a small prepaid data pack.

In addition to blocking background data usage (a feature Android has supported for quite a while), Data Saver goes further by informing apps to use less data in the foreground when possible.

Despite sharing the same name as the Chrome feature, there's no mention here of reducing usage by compressing data. The emphasis is more on getting apps to be good citizens. Data Saver may block background data, but it's up to app makers to check whether the feature is enabled and limit how much their software pulls down in the foreground.

Google has expanded the ConnectivityManager API to provide apps with the ability to check whether Data Saver is enabled and see if they've been whitelisted. Users can permit certain apps to use as much data as they want, even with the toggle switched on.

Comments

Ben

Restricting background data has existed for a long time in Android, it's just been quite hidden in Settings

George

I don't believe this is just a Restricting Background Data toggle. This actually allows devs to limit the amount of data if this option is turned on allowing for minimal function without crippling the app.

I've found one more feature ! If you are in recents screen and press the recent button again apps gets switched and a bar is shown after which the first app gets fullscreen.

crosph?

I can see devs abusing this by just continuing to allow full functionality... I sure hope not, though.

Cerberus_tm

What I have never been able to find, though, is a way to set data caps per app. So you can prevent e.g. your music app from using up too many data in a month in case your forget to turn it off. I'd really love to have this.

Marcus

It would be awesome if this feature would allow priority messages through, so you could stop let's say Facebook from syncing in the background, but at the same time you can still get Hangouts.

Suicide_Note

That sounds like what this feature is trying to accomplish, though it will be up to devs to bake it into their apps.

abqnm

It seems as though it will block all background data by default and you can whitelist apps. This needs no dev interaction.

The part that developers can use is the expanded connectivity manager API which allows apps to check if they are being blocked from using background data so they don't keep retrying requests when the data connection is unavailable to them. It also recommends, though it doesn't require, that apps be conscious of their foreground data usage and background data usage if they happen to be lucky enough to have been whitelisted by the user.

Capt4chris

I would love to be able to block mobile data for all apps and then just whitelist a few. I'd be much more inclined to try out Project Fi.

abqnm

When enabled, it seems to block all background data by default. You can then whitelist apps you want to be able to use background data.

On top of that, it has expanded the connectivity manager API so that apps can query if Data Saver is enabled and handle the fact that they can't use background data more gracefully rather than just failing and constantly retrying when it doesn't get a connection. Also it encourages app developers to limit foreground data usage when it's enabled, though this isn't required.

Ramon Rivas

Ups, didn't see your message before posting mine...

Ramon Rivas

It can. You can white-list applications so they can access to the network even when Data Saver is on. Also the apps can check that Data Saver is enabled and they where white-listed, which gives the developers the option to use the network on a more efficient way. Let's say Facebook Messenger won't have Cell network access, but Hangouts is white-listed so it will have access. Nonetheless, Hangouts could decide to not automatically pull images when Data Saver is enabled, and wait for the user to explicitly request to download them.

I would actually love to enable this all the time and white-list all messenger apps that are upgraded to be more efficient while on Cell network

tintin.92

The blocking background access bit, does it only work on data or on wifi as well? Cuz if it restricts wifi too, it's unnecessarily restrictive.

Andy Roid

The answer is literally right there in the screenshot, did you even read the article?

Eric

I'm never confident that these sorts of "you should maybe do this" features designed to nudge devs towards good practices will catch on. I don't really trust app developers to follow the guidelines unless someone turns them into rules.

As soon as someone's app decides to ignore these features and provide what appears to the user as "better" functionality, there's no longer any incentive for competitors to play nice.

Alan S

I get 2TB of 4G every month here in Ireland so I won't use this feature but it is still great to have!

Luca

Can you change the cycle period or it still stucks to a month?

crosph?

Looks like more ...simplification is happening to the data usage screen. In 5.0 you could no longer narrow the graph down to a specific period, now it looks like it's just a bar. Is it expandable or anything?

(The bar thing could have changed in Marshmallow... I've got a D5833, and I'm not the compulsive risky flasher I used to be, so I haven't tried Sony's D5803 concept ROM (muh band 40))
(I just looked up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks#Oceania and no NZ telcos even USE band 40... brb locating Marshmallow)

Madis Otenurm

Would be awesome if it turned on after data warning has passed.

Paul_Werner

For those that care... you can disable "unrestricted data" on Google Play Services. I won't be doing that myself but for those of you that want to you can

erptastic

That is great. Single toggle to fine tweak what apps I want to use background data (e.g. not Twitter, facebook and reddit but Telegram and WhatsApp) when I am reaching the end of my 1GB. Plus, maybe those messengers will stop downloading Pictures automatically etc. without having to dive into their settings and remember to remove the ticks later on...